Tag Archives: Cloth Diaper Laundry

As anyone in the cloth diaper community will tell you, the most intimidating thing about about cloth diapering is the laundry. Your first little stash of fluff arrives and just sits there because you’re terrified to prep them. You wonder “Do I have the right detergent?” “Is my washing machine ok?” “I DON’T WANT TO RUIN MY DIAPERS!!!” Thankfully, short of actually shredding your diapers, there is very little that can’t be fixed. Most of us do run into a roadblock at some point along our diapering journey that sends us to the interwebs in search of a solution, and with so many opinions and suggestions on how to solve the problem, it’s hard to know what’s right. Here are a few common myths about diaper laundry and the truth behind them. Myth: I see suds when there shouldn’t be suds! I have detergent buildup! Truth: Suds in the pre-wash are totally normal, even if you didn’t add soap. Why? Urine bubbles up all by itself when agitated. Anyone with a potty training toddler can tell you that rinsing out a potty chair full of pee will cause a mountain for suds. On the other end of the spectrum, finding suds hanging around after the main wash can also be normal. Plain water doesn’t cause bubbles, but add the smallest amount of soap, like the amount that might still be …

Once I get into a routine, habits are hard to break. For example, I usually eat the same thing for breakfast every day for a year or two at a time until I switch to something else, which I then eat every day for the next year or so. When we had my second son two years ago we decided to cloth diaper, and it was really easy for me to fall into a great wash/care routine. I did dirty diaper laundry every other day, and I usually used one of two great detergents that I love. I also use cloth wipes, and I would alternate between using plain water and a soap solution for my wipe water. I was happy, baby was happy, and all was well in cloth diaper land in the Gray household. Well, fast forward a year and a half and *poof* I don’t have an exclusively breastfed baby anymore, I have a toddler who eats an array of things, some of which he finds on the floor. With the almost constant change in my toddler, his increased activity rate, and his varying diet our cloth diaper care ceased to be as easy-breezy as it once was. My kiddo started getting yeast rashes that either took forever to clear up, or returned with annoying frequency. We dealt with yeast infections off and on for about six …

Sometimes when the topic of cloth diapering comes up in a conversation, people will say, “oh, that’s neat. So you have a service come and pick up the diapers every week?” When I tell them, no, I just do the laundry at home, they’re often surprised (I’m still amazed at all the outdated misconceptions about cloth diapering out there!) Laundry, I’ll admit, was one of my biggest worries when I thought about cloth diapering. Would I be able to get them clean enough? Would my washing machine get…shudder…poo buildup? What if I accidentally used the wrong detergent? I’m happy to say, however, that it isn’t nearly as hard to learn as I thought. Yes, there’s a bit of a learning curve if you’re used to just washing clothes (for example, never use fabric softener on your diapers if you don’t want buildup that causes them to repel moisture, and don’t constantly dry the covers on high, or it will break down the PUL or elastic), but there are tons of resources online to help you find the routine that works best for you. Online forums are great when you have questions, since many cloth-friendly moms are happy to help. In my case, I learned things about my own washer and dryer from just reading the manual that I had no idea existed…there’s all sorts of “modes” on that thing that …

I freely admit that I am not the best person for you to get your cloth diapering tips from. I’ve cloth diapered for two and a half years and love it (Except when I’m pregnant and nauseous, but let’s be honest… it is hard to love anything when I’m pregnant and nauseous.), but I’ve been rather mule-headed about following all of the “musts” of cloth diapering. One example? As I write this I am stripping diapers. For the first. Time. Ever. But if I can offer a small defense for myself, I live in a condominium complex where I am required to share two washers and dryers with 17 other households. There’s no “I’ll just toss the dirty diapers in the machine until there’s enough to run the load,” and no “I’ll run an extra rinse cycle,” and definitely, absolutely no control over what soaps or softeners are used in the machines. Not to mention the pile of quarters I need just to coax a few drops of water into the steel drum. So how do I make it work? 1) I do a week’s worth of diapers at a time. (Gasp! I know.) With so many people using the same machines, it is rare to find time when someone is not actively waiting for me to finish. Once I was a little too slow to return to my diapers …

When people ask me if I like cloth diapering, I reply with an enthusiastic “Yes!” There are so many things I really LOVE about cloth diapering—saving money, helping the environment, keeping yucky chemicals off of my baby’s bum, not to mention they are just so darn cute! However, there is one thing that I don’t love about cloth diapers—the bulk! I didn’t really anticipate this issue until after my son was born and I went to pack the diaper bag for our first outing. Two of my Bumgenius 4.0 diapers took up the same amount of space as a whole day’s worth of disposables! I felt like I was hauling around a carryon suitcase by the time I fit everything I needed in the diaper bag! I finally found a solution to my problem when I came across the Planet Wise Hanging Wet/Dry Bag. If I was going to be going out for a long time, I started only packing a couple cloth diapers in my diaper bag along with a small Planet Wise wet bag, and putting the rest of the diapers in the dry side of my hanging wet/dry bag. If I was going to be in one place all day, like a friend’s house, then I would carry in both the diaper bag and the wet/dry bag so I would have all of my clean diapers in …